Skin: A Novel

By Mo Hayder

When the decomposed body of a young woman is found near some railway tracks just outside Bristol one hot May morning, all indications are that she committed suicide. That’s how the police want it too -- all neatly squared away. But DI Jack Caffery is not so sure. He is on the trail of someone predatory, someone who hides in the shadows and can slip into houses unseen. And for the first time in a very long time, he feels scared.

Police diver Flea Marley is working alongside Caffery. With the traumas of her past safely behind her, she’s beginning to wonder whether her relationship with Caffery could go beyond the professional. And then she makes a discovery that changes everything. Not only is it far too close to home for comfort, but it’s so horrifying that she knows nothing will ever be the same again. And this time, no one -- not even Caffery -- can help her. . . .

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Jun 22, 2010
• ISBN: 9781443400411

Mo Hayder

MO HAYDER is the author of the internationally bestselling novels Birdman, The Treatment, The Devil of Nanking, Pig Island, Ritual, Skin, Gone—which won the 2012 Edgar Award for best novel—Hanging Hill and Poppet. In 2011, she received the Crime Writers’ Association Dagger in the Library award. She lives in the Cotswolds, England.

Reviews for Skin

[imshi_1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I was with this one until I got the the part with the autopsy report. Having written and reviewed numerous such reports in my lifetime, I can tell you that there are some things that just don't go on them. Hint:"Her skull was crushed in with the force of two vehicles colliding at thirty miles per hour."is one of them. After that I lost all ability to take this book seriously, and had to put it down.

[caitemaire · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

If you are familiar with Mo Hayder's books, that title, Skin, is enough to let you know that this will be another one of her, at times, so creepy stories. Skin...oh my.The very good Jack Caffery, police detective extraordinaire, is back, in a new location from the earlier books and now joined by the interesting Sgt. Phoebe "Flea" Marley, a young woman who will soon have her own demons to deal with. Oh family, so difficult.Solid plot, even if the ending seemed a bit rushed,excellent characters. And a good dose of creepy with your mystery.

[rdhawk6886 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very satisfying follow-up to Ritual. I like the fact that this book begins moments after Ritual ends and leaves many strings untied at the end. For me, it adds much immediacy to the book itself. The characters of Cafferty and Flea are easy to identify with, although there personal burdens are comic book sized. I like the fact that there is some attraction between these two central characters although their paths run parallel as opposed to merging. Typically, I am not a fan of the serial killer genre, but it worked in this book for me. This book sold me on continuation of the series, I am moving directly to the next book, will have to double back and catch the first 2 in the series.

[jjaylynny · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Hayder's Jack Caffery series is a cut above the usual...but part of the being a cut above lies in its bleakness. There's a hopelessness about Caffery and Flea Marley that brings a sadness to their stories that kind of blunts the horror. I'm not sure that's a good or a bad thing, but I'll keep reading.

[twink_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Mo Hayder has a deliciously dark and devious imagination. I've been a die hard fan of hers since I plucked Birdman, the first of the Jack Caffery books, off the shelf. Skin is the fourth in the series.Jack is now a Detective Inspector with the Bristol Major Crimes Investigation Unit. Young women, apparent suicides, are turning up throughout the city. Jack begins to question the suicide verdict when he discovers they all have a connection to a set of quarries, known to attract the desperate. Flea Marley is the police diver charged with hunting for clues or bodies in the depths. But Flea is over her head in more ways than one. The story line involving her brother is a train wreck just waiting to happen.That's just a very, very bare bones summary of the plot. Hayder's plotting is much more layered and complex. There's no way to predict which way the story is going to turn. I appreciate being Fans of Thomas Harris and John Sandford would enjoy this series. There's a cover blurb from another favourite author of mine - Karin Slaughter. I'll be watching for the 5th in the series - Gone - to hit the North American shelves.kept on my toes. Skin is a murder mystery but so much more. Hayder injects her trademark creepiness into the story, turning up the thriller dial yet another notch.Caffery is a complex character. He has a strong moral compass, but it doesn't always point north. His sense of justice does not always follow what the law says. Throughout the series, I've changed my opinion about him a few times, but he is always a mesmerizing protagonist. Caffery is a tortured soul, trying to rid himself of the past. Skin lets us explore the character of Flea in more depth. She too is a damaged soul.A definite creepy, chilling page turner. I would suggest starting with the beginning of this series, to really get to know the character. Skin opens just after the previous book Ritual ends. The case from Ritual is referenced and there is some carry over of plot. Fans of Thomas Harris and John Sandford would enjoy this series. There's also a cover blurb from another favourite author of mine - Karin Slaughter. I'll be waiting for the 5th in this series - Gone - to hit the North American shelves.

[elizajane_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Reason for Reading: Next in the series and Mo Hayder is my favourite author in the world! (at the moment)Summary: A suicide is found and everything points to case closed, though the ex-husband does show concern that things don't seem right. When another suicide with the same MO shows up Jack Caffery asks to be put on the case as he has found some connections between the two. At the same time celebrity rich girl, Misty Kitson, has simply vanished and police diver Flea Marley has been called in to search a few lakes and a quarry. Flea and Jack do not work together in this novel, they are off on their own this time. Jack's case takes him to a very strange human being and a sick prolific serial killer while Flea is hit out of the blue by a family problem that she must deal with and it is something that will change her life forever.Comments: First off the mystery story was quite good, it did lack Hayder's trademark gruesomeness and weirdness which I've come to expect but still a strange enough case to be worthy of Hayder's talent. Flea's story, however, is the one that gets the reader's blood thumping. Not exactly a mystery as we learn the facts as quickly as Flea does but more pure thriller. What Hayder has done in this book is examine her main characters personalities and moral boundaries. From earlier books we know what Jack is capable of, but he has shown determinedly to prove himself the better man he knows he can be. Flea we've only seen from one side, this novel tests her boundaries and between them both Mo Hayder has created two very unique main character detectives for a police procedural series. Are they likable? "Can" they be likable? What does it say about the reader if he does like them? Personally, I did not like Jack the first time I met him in "Birdman" but I grew to like him quite quickly. At this time I do still like both Flea and Jack but with caveats and I must see what the next book brings before I make any final decisions. But whether I like them or not as persons, I love them as the unique, distinct detective team in Hayder's twisted thrillers with plots that no one else could write.

[mazda502001 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

What a wonderful writer of thrillers is Mo Hayder. Her books are stunning, disturbing, terrifying and enthralling. Definate page-turners. I do think its important to read the Caffery series in order as they do follow on from each other.Back Cover Blurb:When the decomposed body of a young woman is found near railway tracks the police are convinced it's a suicide. But DI Jack Caffery is not so sure. He's on the trail of a predator, a brutal killer who waits, hiding in shadows.As Sergeant Flea Marley a police diver and body recovery expert works alongside Caffery, she is aware that her feelings for him may go beyond the professional. But then she finds something so unexpected - and so terrifying - that it changes everything. And she knows that this time, no one - not even Caffery - can help her.....

[kylenapoli · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Well and truly hooked, now. This novel lacks the serious creepiness of -Ritual-, nor do the victims get as much of a voice here, which leaves a fairly standard central mystery. The real nerve center, though, is in the story line involving Flea and her brother, the lengths she'll go to to protect him, and the nature of loyalty. Hayder provides a cruel but also delicious cliffhanger in that narrative, so I hope the next volume hurries right along. Sharpish, please.

[adpaton · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Although this book is complete in itself, it follows a little too closely on the heels of Ritual, Hayder's story about Muti murder, to stand alone satisfactorily, and is her weakest work so far.Having said that, it is still a good read: Caffrey has been assigned the disappearance of the girlfriend of a soccer star, but is convinced his last case was not properly resolved and that the Tokoloshe is still out there.He comes across suicides that he is convinced are actually murders, although his boss, anxious to solve the mystery of the vanishing girlfriend, is not interested. Unwater recovery diver Flea Marley has problems of her own as she discovers she has inadvertently provided an alibi for her brother Thom at a time when he was driving drunk - killing a pedestrian he turns out to be the missing girlfriend.Thom has stored the corpse in the boot of Flea's car, causing all sorts of problems, especially when he denies he used the car at all that night and it is up to her to dispose of the decomposing body.Jack still pays his visits to the tramp known as the Walking Man, who still always knows when to expect him and dolls out advise with the sagacity of Solomon. He has got over his obsession with his brother and is now starting to fret about Flea...Well written as always but, just possibly, a little bit tired? Skin lost the sparkle, tension and cohesion of previous books and I was not altogether surprised to find it relegated to the discount book store.

[sandylee_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Holy %$&*! I thought the first in the series, BIRDMAN, was great. But RITUAL and now SKIN are superb. Jack Caffery has settled into Bristol after his brother's "alleged" killer committed suicide. SKIN continues just a couple weeks after RITUAL ended. Flea is a police diver and a continuing character who was with Jack when they arrested the killers in RITUAL. Jack feels there might have been another person in the house who managed to get away. Now someone is "skinning" his victims and Jack thinks it might be part of the "ritual." Flea has her own domestic problems which are distracting her from her job. Just like in RITUAL the most curious character is "the walking man." He has an insight into the human psyche that borders on creepy. Jack has a "sixth sense" when it comes to zeroing in on a case and he seems to be in the right place at the right time to discover exactly what trouble Flea is in. A phenomenal series.

[olivermagnus · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Skin by Mo Hayder
4.5 Stars

This is Mo Hayder's fourth novel featuring Jack Caffery following “Ritual”. If you haven't read “Ritual” you really shouldn't start this one. Many of the themes and characters are revisited in this story and it would be hard to understand everything without reading the prior novel.

The story picks up one week after the end of “Ritual” and again we catch up with Detective Inspector Jack Caffery of Bristol's Major Crime Investigation Unit and Police underwater search diver Sergeant Phoebe “Flea” Marley. Their prior investigation introduced them to African rituals called muti. Caffery remains doubtful about the resolution of the ritual murders in the last case and suspicious about a string of missing local women. He connects again with Flea who is diving in a flooded quarry called Elf's Grotto in search of the body of a missing celebrity wife who has escaped from rehab. As she dives deeper than the recommended depths she suffers a diving accident and seemingly observes a supernatural sight. After talking to Caffery they both start to think there's a Tokoloshe in the area, a creature out of African witchcraft, and one they suspect existed in their last case.

Jack and Flea work together on the search for Misty (the missing celebrity wife) as well as a woman who has possibly committed suicide under suspicious circumstances. There is definitely chemistry between them but they are both emotionally damaged and can't deal with the thought of pursing a relationship. As the story progress new crimes and plot twists start to come together. There is a serial killer who collects pieces of skin from his victims. There is the sense that the Tokoloshe is watching both Jack and Flea. Flea becomes more and more suspicious that her brother is hiding something, especially after he asks to borrow her car.

This book was really interesting and I was anxious to see how it finally resolved. There are several plots but not so many you can't follow them to their resolution. This is a great thriller that will grab your attention (as long as you've read Ritual) and lacks a lot of the graphic horror of Hayder's first two novels. It left me anxious to read the next one.

[ladymine-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Das Buch war spannend und gut geschrieben. Der Reißer war es nicht, aber kurzweilige Unterhaltung bietet es auf jeden Fall.

[deltaqueen50 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Skin by Mo Hayder is the fourth book in the Jack Caffery series. I have read the previous three but had let a number of years go by before picking up this one. Apparently this book continues immediately after the last one and it took me some time to reacquaint myself with the characters and the on-going storyline. This series is one that hasn’t shied away from extreme violence so I was pleasantly surprised that this one didn’t go that route. Instead this was an intricately plotted mystery that gives storylines to both Jack Caffery and Detective Phoebe (Flea) Marley.Caffery and Marley are not working together this time but both are dealing with the aftermath of traumatic events. In Jack’s case he is convinced that his last case which involved African witchcraft shouldn’t be closed, that there’s still something or someone that has escaped the attention of the law. Meanwhile Flea Marley is making some questionable moral decisions because of family loyalty. Moving through these two storylines is the added pressure of tracking a serial killer who is leaving a trail of bodies that have been labelled as suicides.Although there were a few areas that I found a little forced, I am glad that I finally picked up this series again and hopefully will not let years go by before getting to book number five.